Crankworx - Enduro World Series: Preview

Crankworx - Enduro World Series: Preview

The Enduro World Series flew over the pond for Round 4 in Colorado, the next stop takes riders from USA up into the Rocky Mountains to Whistler. It’s the tenth anniversary of Crankworx this year and the Enduro is packed into one day of racing.

We have already given you the lowdown on MSA that you can check out here but with all this going on you need to know when and where. Here is our one stop Enduro shop for all things Round 5 of the Enduro World Series.

Can Jerome hold onto his lead?

Jerome Clementz, who won here in 2012, will be gunning to maintain his series lead but JC’s French counterparts will be hunting his points lead. Tracy Moseley is running away with the series so far but she will no doubt still be pushing as the ladies field is still stacked with talent.

Jared congratulates Jerome in L2A

The bigger story for this event is with Jared Graves, blighted by bad luck you could say. Mechanicals have reared their ugly, stage destroying head at some in the recent rounds. Grave’s strength is evident, could this be the round where he pulls it all together and represents how fast he is with a top step on the podium? Only time will tell but one flat out day of racing could suit the master of 4X.

Much of the hype and in turn attraction of Enduro is the differing formats that each event has. Going by rider reactions, Val d’allos was popular with closed stages only opened for a short practice session before the timed race run signified the end of that stage.

From the Enduro World Series Facebook page earlier today.

A long single day race that will demand a high comfort level with wilderness self-sufficient riding.

So it seems the riders will be a long way from anyone and anything come race day. The last round in Colorado was hugely different to it’s predecessor in Les Deux Alpes the little brother of big daddy Crankworx in Whistler.

Whistler may be a bike park but looking at the course map it seems riders will be flung far away from some of Whistler’s groomed trails and into the wilds around the resort. Stages one and five share the same start but head off in different directions whilst stages two to four circulate to the west of the resort skirting Alta Lake before heading North and swinging back towards civilisation. This means the riders will only pass through Whistler village once during the day just before they head up for the last stage. It’s going to be a good opportunity to take on fuel and fluids ready for the last push down a long stage 5. This departure from regular pit visits means that riders will be totally self sufficient, adding another dimension of what to take in a spares bag. We will revisit this over the weekend and see who is carrying what.

Although Tracy leads by almost 1000 points this far on in the series form what we know she will still be pushing in Whistler, Tracy is a racer through and through. The big question is on Graves, he has performed in true Graves fashion on the majority of the stages of this series. Flat out, no questions, just fast as hell. If he can get a win here he will pull back some points on Jerome Clementz and could overtake Nico Vouilloz but only time will tell if the Aussie machine will power past the euro contingent, which ever way the race plates face it’g going to be one hell of a race. Yes we now do poetry in Dirt!

We all know Crankworx but what is the Enduro going to be like? Check out the race from last year and see what went down.

Here is the schedule for the weekend and make sure you keep and eye on #CWXEnduro on Instagram and #Crankworx on Twitter for all the goings on throughout the weekend. We will be dropping the Parkin edit bombs over the weekend with the finals next week so keep an eye out for them too.

August 6
8:30pm PDT Course description and maps will be released. - We will get these online as soon as they are released.

August 7-8
Top of the World (Stage 5) open. Peak Chair operating times 11am-5pm.
Stages 1-4 closed fxor course marking – no racer access to Stages 1-4 on either bike / foot.

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